economicmultipliers_73

Economic Multipliers (73)

Do you know what these are?

They help CREATE wealth in systems.

Camping skills (example 1) are an economic multiplier for any individual or community that loses power in cold weather.

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At two points in my life, I have been what I would call ‘chilled to the bone.’ The experiences themselves aren’t significant because I was not in any immediate danger: Both times I had the ability to ‘remedy’ the problem.

But since I don’t like to be unnecessarily cold, if the power went out for several days in cold weather in the community I live in, among other things, I’d get out a small tent and sleeping bag and plan on doing most of my indoor sedentary activities in the tent. My own body heat is capable of helping heat that small space.

In an emergency, if you can limit the amount of space you need to heat, you increase the probability that you’ll be able to stay warm. As human beings, we are our own mini furnaces but small furnaces with limited amounts of fuel can only heat small spaces.

The sleeping chamber at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s old home) is a good example of how our forefathers stayed warm before people had a lot of (or any) indoor heating and insulation: They literally built tents around their beds to keep the drafts out and their body heat in. In the ‘olden days’ in the United States, people many times also wore caps, bonnets or hoods when they slept (their ‘head blankets’).

Likewise, if I was using a tent, I’d rely on a windup flashlight or lantern for minimalist lighting. You may need to wind either up regularly (for 1-2 minutes every 15-40 minutes) but you don’t have to worry about the batteries going dead.

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P.S. If you've ever tent camped, you know that when you get home, you should air out (fully dry out) the tent before putting it into storage (you already would have cleaned it out before packing it up for home).

If you ever 'camp' in your house in a rather lengthy emergency, it's a good idea (for your own health) to air out the tent and shake out, air out and set in the sun if possible all the bedding every 2-3 days.

Ed Grabianowski, in an article posted at health.howstuffworks.com, notes that more than 8 pounds (or 3.6+ kilograms) of skin (per person) sloughs off each year.

A lot of those skin cells end up in bedding. A gallon of water weighs about 8.34 pounds (or ~3.8 kilograms). Since the 'dusty residue' is less dense than water, the volume would look like considerably more if you could collect it all.